Blogs

Ten Ten till we do it again

I was very excited, and more than a little nervous, when I was invited to talk on our local radio station 10 Radio. The programme, “Talking Books” is presented by Suzie Grogan as part of the Friday morning Community Radio session. 10 Radio started in 2004 when a small group of local residents with an interest in community development read about community radio in Manchester and thought "wouldn't it be great to do it in rural Somerset...

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“Morality for the Modern Man” Review of “The Book Lover’s Tale” by Ivo Stourton

  This is one of those books I didn’t want to stop reading, the sort you wish could go on for ever, the sort you go on thinking about long after you’ve finished it. The prologue has an odd sort of conversational tone, which I found slightly disconcerting but this was dropped in the first chapter, replaced by a pacey, narrative style. The story moves fluidly and easily, allowing the reader to look back on the past whilst moving forward with the action at the same time. The...

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“Lucky with the weather”

  We had a wedding in our village last weekend, only the third we’ve had in the thirty years we’ve lived here. A marquee went up in the field across the road. A generator arrived. Then posh-looking portaloos. And cars and vans came and went as florists, decorators and electricians set everything up. The parents of the groom were hosting the event. Invitations to the evening celebration went out to nearby neighbours (including us), the ones who would be most bothered by the noise. In the days preceding the event activity...

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Waiting for Sunrise, Review of Novel by William Boyd

My husband said it was the best William Boyd he had read. My son agreed- he had given it to my husband as a Christmas present. Thus advised, I looked forward to reading it. I was interested in the way it began. It’s always so hard to know how to begin and end a novel, but to start it as though you are watching someone from afar is a good ploy and one I have never seen used before. All the William Boyd books I have read take a lot of “getting in to”, and this one is no exception. The first half is set in post-first-world-war...

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Bob’s your uncle and Charley is your aunt!

We went to see a production of Charley’s Aunt last week at the Regal Theatre in Minehead by a company we had never heard of called Creative Cow.It was only on for one evening, being part of a nationwide tour. Creative Cow was established six years ago and pride themselves on “touring in the good old-fashioned sense”,...

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Novel Progression

So you’re probably wondering how the new novel is progressing. Well, despite the sunny weather luring us outside so much of the time, I am making good progress. It presently stands at 12,755 words and I’m part way through the third chapter. However, as any writer will tell you progress is not solely governed by the word count. It can take an hour sometimes to write a few sentences as you struggle to make sure the dialogue sounds natural or that it is something your protagonist would actually say under the circumstances. It’s amazing how the characters can change...

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Café Rene comes to Taunton

Review of “Allo Allo” by @2K Theatre Company at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre, Taunton

I was never a fan of “Allo Allo” on television, but my husband loved and it and we used to watch it with the children, so when we saw there was a stage production at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre in Taunton he was keen to go. The  @2K Theatre Company  are a newly formed amateur theatre company. We...

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Set in Lyme

 

I don’t know what made me set my latest novel in Lyme Regis. In fact I’m not even sure where the idea for the novel came from now, though I think that, like my short story, it started with a dream.

Night time is far and away the best time for ideas, especially that half-awake, half-asleep time that happens, just as you’re drifting off to sleep or just as you wake up. Migraines are another creative time for me. Not when I’m lying supine, my head splitting so much I can’t raise it from the pillow obviously. But when I’m recovering...

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Reading Resolution- Book Review of "Resolution" by John Cole

John was a personal friend of mine, and although he published his book a year ago, I have to admit, rather guiltily that I have only just found time to read it. I feel especially guilty, in fact, because John offered to allow me to read his "unpublished manuscript" about a year before he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and subsequently died. What an opportunity missed.

The book starts shakily. As a writer myself I know how hard it is to start a story. The first few chapters...

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A Cosmic Day with Media Matty

  “Learn all about how to connect on Facebook and Twitter”. An invitation I simply couldn’t refuse. I think I’m fairly adept at Social Networking, but I do struggle occasionally and I’m always willing to learn more. This Social Media Training Course, run by Cosmic was provided free to all delegates at the 10 Parishes festival, to help us promote our own work as well as the Festival itself. So on Friday...

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